[[!meta title="Using VeraCrypt encrypted volumes"]]

[[!toc levels=2]]

Introduction to <span class="application">VeraCrypt</span>

<span class="application">[VeraCrypt](https://www.veracrypt.fr/)</span> is a
disk encryption tool that works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Comparison between <span class="application">LUKS</span> and <span class="application">VeraCrypt</span>

You can also create and open <span class="application">LUKS</span>
encrypted volumes in Tails. <span class="application">LUKS</span> is the
standard for disk encryption in Linux. [[See our documentation about
<span class="application">LUKS</span>.|encrypted_volumes]]

[[!inline pages="doc/encryption_and_privacy/luks_vs_veracrypt.inline" raw="yes" sort="age"]]

<a id="container-vs-partition"></a>

Difference between file containers and partitions

With <span class="application">VeraCrypt</span> you can store your files
encrypted in two different kinds of *volumes*:

<h3>File containers</h3>

<div class="icon">

[[!img container-icon.png link="no"]]

<div class="text">
<p>A file container is a single big file inside which you can store
several files encrypted, a bit like a ZIP file.</p>
</div>
</div>

<h3>Partitions or drives</h3>

[[!img partition-icon.png link="no"]]

<div class="text">
<p>Usually, drives (USB sticks and hard disks) have a single partition of their
entire size. This way, you can encrypt a whole USB stick, for example.
But, drives can also be split into several partitions.
</div>
</div>

<a id="parameters"></a>

Unlocking parameters

To unlock a <span class="application">VeraCrypt</span> volume, you might need
the following parameters, depending on the options that were selected when the
volume was created: